Delhi gang rape case: Shinde assures fast track trial

NEW DELHI: Responding to the outrage over gangrape of a physiotherapy student in south Delhi on Sunday night, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday assured Parliament that the government proposed to have the case heard by a fast-track court, and would seek day-to-day hearing to ensure swift punishment for those behind the atrocity.

Later in the evening, Congress president Sonia Gandhi directed Shinde to ensure that the criminals are tracked, swiftly punished and crimes against women are curbed. She also spoke with Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Mamta Sharma and asked them to consider proactive measures to deal with crimes against fairer sex.

Shinde announced a special task force under Union home secretary R K Singh to look into safety issues for women in Delhi "by taking into consideration the suggestions made by MPs, but rejected the charge of negligence against Delhi Police in the particular incident". Rather, he praised police for their swift response.

The home minister, who took a detailed review of the law and order situation in the national Capital, vowed to take strict action against police officers found guilty of negligence in connection with the horrific crime.

He added that the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2012, for dealing with sexual offences has already been introduced in the Lok Sabha "which seeks to rationalize various sections of the IPC dealing with sexual offences" so as to improve conviction rate.

Incidentally, even as Shinde announced host of steps to bring the rapists to justice, he stood by the Delhi Police, recalling how they had immediately launched an investigation into the gangrape, arresting four accused a day after the crime.

"The case was detected without loss of time, and four of the six accused, including the bus driver, have been arrested," he informed Parliament. Police are on the trail of the other two accused.

The bus in which the crime took place has been impounded and the MHA has directed the Delhi Police to find out if the owner of the vehicle had undertaken police verification of the driver. If the owner slipped up and failed to get the bus driver verified by the police, he, too, will face action.

The bus - bearing registration number DL-IPC-0149 - belongs to a private transporter and is used to ferry children of Birla Vidya Niketan School at Pushp Vihar in Saket.

Seeking to allay the MPs' fears over safety of women in the national Capital, more so at night, Shinde said the Delhi Police had taken a host of measures in this regard. All roads, he said, are patrolled by PCR vans at night and frequency of patrolling kept "as high as possible".

"Specific routes have been identified which are used by women returning from their workplaces like call centers/BPOs at night and the number of emergency response vehicles and PCR vans on these routes has been increased. Motorcycle patrols too have been introduced on these vulnerable routes," he added.

The Delhi Police, said Shinde, has directed BPOs and other establishments to drop their employees at their doorsteps at night.

Three dedicated helplines are functional for women. Shinde said the helpline numbers have been adequately publicized.